robots.net blog for roschlerhttp://robots.net/person/roschler/
robots.net blog for roschleren-usmod_virguleFri, 27 Oct 2017 20:34:23 GMTSun, 4 Oct 2009 01:47:29 GMT4 Oct 2009http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=80
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=80Here's a comment of mine on the current state of the robot
industry and how the next great revolution in consumer
technology is being held back by the current economy.
<p> Currently nobody wants to create a toy that costs more than
about $70 USD now and far better if it's around $30 to $40
(forget the $200 to $400 toy robots of the previous years).
Unemployment is still rising and the credit card companies
have jacked up rates on good and bad customers alike while
closing many accounts just to shore up their debt ratios;
two huge market forces which directly and significantly
reduce both the discretionary income (cash) and layaway
income(credit) a consumer has to buy goods. This leads to a
vicious cycle because the vendors whose goods they would buy
panic, cut their product lines (like robots this year), and
lay off employees (who are after all consumers themselves
and now have no salary to buy goods with).
<p> It's so bad that in Japan, despite the fact it has one of
the fastest aging populations in the world and desperately
needs assisted robotics, those companies bringing those
innovations to market can't get people to buy their goods
(which admittedly are expensive but would have sold anyways
in better times).
<p> On the utility side of consumer robotics you might as well
just call that market the Roomba market since there really
isn't anything else that dominates. There is the promise of
the telepresence and home surveillance market, but iRobot
dropped iConnectR like a bad habit, Meccanno released Spykee
but never followed up with their announced SDK, leaving
WowWee to fight the good fight on with Rovio. At least they
are soldiering on by continually upgrading Rovio's firmware
and helping customers fix their units when it's a parts
failure. The home teleprescence market should be moving
ahead a lot faster and stronger than it is. It's up to
WowWee to capitalize on it before a new player eats their lunch.
<p> I'm looking forward to 2010. How about you?Wed, 3 Jun 2009 11:56:14 GMT3 Jun 2009http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=79
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=79At E3 Peter Molyneux demonstrated <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/e3-project-natals-molyneux-and-milo-interview" >Milo</a>,
a game that features a rendered ten year old boy that you
converse with. Although Milo doesn't
have true natural language processing but instead mostly
extensive keyword recognition capability, "he" does have the
ability to detect emotion in your voice. This could have
interesting applications to robotics.
Thu, 8 Jan 2009 04:00:19 GMT8 Jan 2009http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=78
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=78A quick note to those looking at WowWee's products shown at
the CES 2009 show. The Spyball, the rolling robot that can
morph between a ball and a spycam, does not have audio.
This is not be mentioned by the press. Rovio, it's big
brother release in 2008, does have two way audio and also is
capable of driving itself.Mon, 3 Mar 2008 21:18:39 GMT3 Mar 2008http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=77
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=77I'll be hosting another online <a href="http://www.robotsrule.com/pleo/blogger.html" >Pleo</a>
party with the help of Yahoo Live this <b>Thursday, March 6
2008</b>. If anyone wants to chat while watching my 3 Pleos
raise a ruckus in real time (with audio too), just visit my
<a href="http://live.yahoo.com/robots" >Yahoo Live Robots</a>
channel at <b>9 PM/EST</b> on that date. To watch you just
need a Flash enabled browser. To chat you will need a Yahoo
ID (they're free).Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:14:13 GMT13 Jan 2008http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=76
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=76CES 2008 brought quite a few new robots from WowWee.
One exciting entry was the <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/flytech-bladestar.php">FlyTech
Bladestar flying machine</a>, a spinning propeller with the
unique twist of having sensors that allow it fly on
autopilot. The most interesting in my opinion is the <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/rovio.php">Rovio
spy</a> robot that allows you to monitor your home remotely
and easily create patrol routes to go to predetermined spots
in your home, using its point and click
navigation software.
Thu, 8 Nov 2007 19:59:26 GMT8 Nov 2007http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=75
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=75Work on Robodance progresses well but is very time consuming. I
have decided to add support for the <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/i-sobot.php">i-SOBOT</a>
robot since I think it's fantastic. This will allow i-SOBOT
owners to script him using the full power of the PC instead
of the tiny window and facilities on the remote control. It
will also let people command all of the i-SOBOT's
functionality using voice commands, instead of just the 10
the stock i-SOBOT supports.Sun, 2 Sep 2007 23:44:56 GMT2 Sep 2007http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=74
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=74I recently added Skype support to <a
href="http://www.robodance.com/">Robodance 4</a>, my free
software program for WowWee robot owners. It will be
released at the end of November 2007. This is the version
that also has WiiMote support. I made a video that shows my
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=eK_qg6a29qM" >Skype
enabled Roboquad</a>, who is wearing a wireless camera and
microphone, to patrol my house and beam audio and video back
to my laptop. My laptop is connected remotely over the
Internet, via a Skype video call, to my home computer. My
home computer is running Robodance 4. This means I can dial
into my house from anywhere in the world there is an
Internet connection and patrol my house with my <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/roboquad.php">Roboquad</a>,
using just my voice to control it.
<p> I've also updated my web site with a whimsical page on <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/samsung-refrigerator.php">Samsung's
RFID enabled Refrigerator</a>. Although quite not a robot,
it's the first refrigerator with A.I! It monitors your
inventory levels of food and alerts you when you are getting
low on various items.Tue, 5 Jun 2007 03:56:17 GMT5 Jun 2007http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=73
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=73Still waiting for an update on the Ugobe Pleo dinosaur robot
as to when preorders will begin. In the meantime I'm laying
out the design for a portal dedicated to the Pleo. I intend
to have help documentation, tips and tricks information, and
much more. In the meantime, I'm keeping a blog on my
progress and including the occasional technical piece or
feature brief on the <a
href="http://www.pleodinosaur.com/">Pleo Dinosaur</a>.Sun, 11 Feb 2007 13:22:35 GMT11 Feb 2007http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=72
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=72Unfortunately the <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/pleo-dinosaur.php">Pleo
dinosaur</a> robot has been delayed again. The original
pre-order date for February 3rd 2007 has slipped and the new
pre-order date will be announced some time this spring.
Ugobe is making upgrades to Pleo's sensors by adding a chin
sensor for tickling Pleo and several important cosmetic
improvements to Pleo's eyes and skin.Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:41:18 GMT26 Jan 2007http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=71
http://robots.net/person/roschler/diary.html?start=71WowWee has gone to the movies with a pair of robots that are
really the original Robosapien robot done up in custom paint
jobs and shells. They are the <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/spidersapien.php">Spidersapien</a>
and <a
href="http://www.robotsrule.com/html/homersapien.php">Homersapien</a>
robots. Each comes with custom packaging and themed
accessories, and are scheduled to be released along with,
respectively, the upcoming Spiderman movie sequel and The
Simpsons movie.